I was at about mile 13 of a 55 mile ride today with my two girlfriends and a guy we met along the way, who was pulling us at the time at a pretty good pace, when my friend, Jenny, went down. She had apparently clipped the back of my other friend's tire, lost control and crashed. I was right behind her and am amazed I didn't go down with her. Somehow, I managed to get around her.
She was unconscious at first and breathing strangely. I thought we'd have to struggle to get her feet unclipped from her bike, but they were both unclipped. I immediately called 911 and, as it turned out, the guy we were with was an EMT. She was only unconscious for about a minute or two and was able to answer the basic questions the guy asked her, but was obviously dazed and confused. She couldn't remember what happened.
The ambulance came and, luckily, my friend and I were able to ride with her to the hospital. The police had said they might not let us. Some guy had stopped during the chaos of it all and offered to let us keep our bikes at his house, which we did. At little strange leaving three nice bikes at a stranger's house, but we had to be with our friend!!! Jenny had just previously been squeezing my friend's hand in tears telling her not to leave her. (Bikes have been picked up and are fine, so no worries!)
We couldn't get a hold of her husband or hardly anyone else. Finally a friend answered the phone, who called the prayer chain at church, and the news spread like wild fire with our Pastor saying he'd have the congregation pray for her during church (like 3,000 people!). A couple of guys from church went by the husband's house and told him what was going on.
She had a CAT scan and it was fine. She is at home now and in good spirits with some pretty good road rash and a head ache. She insists she's still doing the Amtrak Century next Saturday! The doc said that was probably fine if she was feeling okay, but no major activity that could result in another head injury for a week, so she'll have to ride a stationary bike and/or spin class to finish preparing.
She had JUST bought a new helmet a few weeks ago that fits her much better than her old one, which tipped up too much on her forhead. She wonders what would have happened if she had had the old helmet on. The new one is cracked pretty good. Saved her life.
